Pepero Day in Korea: What It Is and How to Celebrate on November 11

If you have Korean friends, coworkers, or classmates, or you follow K-pop fan accounts, you may see a lot of chocolate-covered sticks around November 11. That’s Pepero Day (빼빼로데이, Ppaeppaero Dei), an informal gift-giving day centered on a popular Korean snack.

The short version:

• What it is: an informal day in South Korea when people give each other Pepero, thin biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate, made by Lotte.
• Why November 11: the date 11/11 looks like four sticks standing in a row.
• How it started: according to Lotte, with teenage girls in southeastern Korea in the mid-1990s. Lotte then marketed it heavily.
• Who gives to whom: friends, classmates, couples, and coworkers. It’s not only a couples’ day.
• Not an official holiday: Nov. 11 is officially Farmers’ Day in Korea, and some groups hand out rice cakes instead.
• In the US: Nov. 11 is Veterans Day. Many Korean grocery stores sell Pepero if you want to join in.

What is Pepero?

Pepero (빼빼로) is a snack of long, thin biscuit sticks coated in chocolate, sold by Lotte Wellfood (formerly Lotte Confectionery). Lotte introduced it in South Korea in 1983. It now comes in several versions, including Original, Almond, Crunky, White Cookie, Choco Cookie, and Choco Field, which has the chocolate inside the stick instead of on the outside.

It may remind you of Pocky, a similar Japanese snack from Glico that launched in 1966. The two are separate products from different companies.

The Korean word ppaeppae (빼빼) refers to someone who is very thin, which echoes the playful wish behind the day.

Why November 11?

Write 11/11 and you get four thin lines, which look like four Pepero sticks.

Lotte’s own account is that the custom began in the mid-1990s among middle and high school girls in the Yeongnam region (southeastern Korea, which includes Busan). They gave Pepero to friends on November 11 with a playful wish: to grow tall and slim, like a Pepero stick. A Lotte representative told the Korean outlet inews24 that a sales employee in the region noticed that stores kept ordering extra stock every November 11. According to The Asia Business Daily, the first newspaper mention of the day appeared in 1996.

These origin details come mainly from the company and Korean press reports, so treat them as the commonly told story rather than a documented history. What is clear is that Lotte picked the day up and marketed it widely. By the 2000s, the company pitched it as a day to share your feelings with friends, partners, and coworkers.

How people celebrate today

Pepero Day is a commercial day, but many people still enjoy it as a low-cost way to say “thinking of you.”

• Friends and classmates swap a box or two.
• Couples exchange them too, sometimes as larger gift sets.
• Coworkers sometimes bring a box to share with the team, much like bringing doughnuts to an American office. It’s a casual gesture, not an obligation. (For how Korean workplaces handle titles and politeness, see our guide to addressing coworkers at a Korean company.)
• Retailers create special displays. Convenience stores and supermarkets stack Pepero near the entrance in the run-up to the day, often with multi-buy deals, like the store in the photo above.
• Homemade versions show up too: pretzel sticks or breadsticks dipped in melted chocolate and sprinkles.

Not everyone loves it

Some Koreans enjoy the custom, while others see it mainly as a marketing event, like other gift-giving “days.” Some prefer to mark November 11 a different way.

November 11 is also South Korea’s Farmers’ Day (농업인의 날, Nongeobin-ui Nal), a national commemorative day established in 1996. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the date was chosen because the Chinese character for soil, 土, can be written as 十 (ten) over 一 (one), so 11/11 reads as “soil month, soil day.” Farmers live from the soil, and by mid-November the year’s farm work is done.

Since 2006, the Korean government has also promoted November 11 as Garaetteok Day (가래떡데이), encouraging people to share garaetteok, long white cylinders of rice cake that also look like sticks, and to eat more Korean rice. In 2023, for example, some kindergartens in Gwangju held rice-cake sharing events for Farmers’ Day instead of Pepero Day, and a farm cooperative in South Gyeongsang Province handed out garaetteok to high school students. Neither is a public holiday, so schools and offices stay open.

Pepero Day in the US

In the United States, November 11 is Veterans Day, a federal holiday. In 2026 it falls on Wednesday, November 11. For many Americans, Pepero Day is unfamiliar, although Lotte has been promoting it abroad, including with a billboard in New York’s Times Square since 2023.

If you want to join in:

• Look for Pepero at a Korean or Asian grocery store. Many carry Pepero, and some stock more before November 11. Availability varies by store.
• Give it casually. A box for a Korean friend or coworker with a short note (“Happy Pepero Day!”) is plenty, and nobody expects a gift in return.
• Bring something to share, not one gift per person, if you’re thinking of an office or a class. Check the school’s or workplace’s rules on food first.
• Make your own with pretzel rods or breadsticks dipped in melted chocolate if you can’t find Pepero.
• Try the rice-cake version. Some Korean grocery stores sell garaetteok. Our Thanksgiving guide explains how to buy and serve tteok (Korean rice cakes), including the choking risk for young children.

Check allergens before giving food. Pepero is a wheat biscuit coated in chocolate, and some flavors contain nuts. Ingredients differ by flavor and by market, so read the allergen list on the box itself, especially before giving it to children.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pepero Day a public holiday in Korea? No. Schools and offices are open. The official commemoration on November 11 is Farmers’ Day, which is also not a day off.

Is Pepero Day only for couples? No. It started as a friends’ custom, and people still give Pepero to friends, family, classmates, and coworkers.

Is Pepero the same as Pocky? They’re similar chocolate-coated biscuit sticks from different companies. Pepero is made by Korea’s Lotte, and Pocky by Japan’s Glico.

What do I say when I give Pepero? “Happy Pepero Day” works in English. In Korean, people often say Ppaeppaero Dei chukha-hae (빼빼로데이 축하해) to friends, or simply hand it over with a smile.

When is Pepero Day in 2026? Wednesday, November 11, the same day as Veterans Day in the US.